


Dragged Under

by FireEye



Category: Zero | Project Zero | Fatal Frame Series, 零 濡鴉ノ巫女 | Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 10:53:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12886347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: For Yuri, surviving is like drowning.





	Dragged Under

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elwing_alcyone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elwing_alcyone/gifts).



One moment, everything would be fine.  The next, Yuri would freeze.

Like if she didn’t breathe, it wouldn’t see her.  If she wasn’t alive, it would pass her by.

They said it would go away.  That it was only shock.  Hallucinations brought on by trauma.

It hadn’t gone away.

Yuri became very good at pretending.

It was easier when she didn’t have to deal with anybody.  If nobody was around, nobody noticed.  Helping Hisoka by tidying up after hours and keeping the books, it wouldn’t matter if a shadow appeared in the door.  Tiptoed up to her.  Lost interest.  Finally, disappeared through a wall.

Then, Yuri could breathe again.

Once in a while, Hisoka would be gone for a day or two.  It was then that the darkness seemed to encroach on the shop the worst, and the shadows took form in the glass windows and the garden.  Yuri would shut herself in her room, reading the books on folklore that Hisoka had left out for her, ignoring the scraping on the window overlooking the garden.

But when Hisoka returned, she would always be smiling.  She would draw Yuri into an embrace, or even simply touch her cheek, and the darkness would recede a little bit.  Yuri could leave the window open again, and sleep more soundly.  If something plodded down the hall in the night, creaking on the stairs, sometimes it was even Hisoka.

At first, in the beginning, Hisoka hadn’t gone anywhere.  Not until Yuri said she felt better and meant it.  Hisoka seemed to trust that, enough to leave Yuri on her own. 

Since those days, things had changed.  More and more, Hisoka insisted on bringing Yuri along when she went out on business.

Yuri didn’t like it as much; there were too many people she didn’t know, too many opportunities to see things she wasn’t meant to see.  But so long as she could stand in the background while Hisoka worked her magic, she was alright.

It was an eclectic business.

Sometimes a client needed to find something.  Other times, they had an antique they wanted appraised.  Or an antique to sell.  Yuri learned the difference between antiques worth value and those that were beyond salvaging.  And how to spot fakes.  Sometimes, when Hisoka needed to find something, Yuri would see the thing she sought a moment before Hisoka herself did, although she kept that to herself.

Usually, when she did, there would be something else lingering beside it that she didn’t want to see.

Then Hisoka would touch her elbow, or her wrist.  Or take her hand, gently.  And she wouldn’t have to think about it anymore, because they were leaving.  So long as she held on to Hisoka, she could get away.

After each trip, Hisoka would go out of her way to make sure that Yuri was settled at home.  At times, it made Yuri feel guilty, being doted upon.

It felt better to feel something than to feel nothing.

Even that was strange.

One morning, Hisoka took her along on a visit to a curio collector.  Standing in his study, surrounded by walls of books and a veritable museum of strange treasures and gadgets on display, Yuri felt... _different_.  Like she was somewhere far away, under water.

“They tell me you aren’t afraid of Dr. Asou’s legacy,” the old man was telling Hisoka.

“I might not be,” Hisoka replied, laying on the enigmatic charm in the voice she used in fortune telling.

“Then I have something that might be of interest to you.”

The old man had set out an old leather case on the desk, which he opened to show Hisoka.  While they were haggling over first authenticity, then price, Yuri felt she was drowning.  She had fallen into darkness, and there were voices all around her, countless shadows crowding throughout the room.

“Yuri,” Hisoka took her by the arms, steering her gently towards the door.  “It’s time to go.”

The case hung from a strap strung over Hisoka’s shoulder as they left.  The shadows didn’t follow them as the old man saw them out.

That same evening, she was sweeping up the front shop and the clocks began to chime.  First one after the other in a wave, then all at once, then back again.  Yuri dropped the broom, clasping her hands to her ears.  The broom handle clattered across her feet, rolling to a stop.

If she didn’t breathe, it wouldn’t see her.

If she wasn’t alive...

...but she _was_ alive.

She’d survived, when she shouldn’t have.

Darkness was swallowing her vision; darkness was swallowing the room.  They were crowding, whispering, _crushing_.

Without a sound, Yuri turned and fled deeper into the house.  She ran past the office, towards the garden, and stopped.

Hisoka was sitting the garden.

What if she...?

Slowly, Hisoka turned her head.  She was on the other side of the glass.  They were separated.  Like water, Hisoka was on the surface.  Yuri was...

 _What if she_...

Yuri was falling.

Falling through water.

 _Drowning_.

Hands pulled at her.  Hands ripped at her.  Hands took her hands gently...

...and Hisoka called her name.

“Yuri,” she said, a touch more firmly.  Then, far, far more gently, “It’s gone now.  You can come back.”

Yuri blinked open her eyes.

Hisoka smiled.  It was a smile touched by a melancholy, but hands were warm and her eyes were very much alive.

Yuri stared at her.  A rush of feeling overcame her, too much at once.  She glanced down at her hands, held still by Hisoka.  Every time the darkness had come, Hisoka chased it away.  With a gentle touch.  With a hug.  With a cup of tea or coffee, or a gentle nudge.

“You knew all along.”

Still smiling, Hisoka merely squeezed her hands, then drew her into her arms, and held her.

Hisoka _knew_.

After that day, Yuri didn’t have to keep it a secret.  Around Hisoka, she didn’t even have to pretend; it would fade into background noise.

**Author's Note:**

> ...it's _kinda_ fluffy, in a Fatal Frame way? ;)
> 
> Happy Yuletide!


End file.
